As one will see when looking over the DC movies in order, after the theatrical cut of Justice League’s arrival in November 2017, Aquaman followed in December 2018. However, aside from a brief mention from Mera of Arthur Curry’s battle with Steppenwolf, the Jason Momoa-led DC movie didn’t have any wider DC Extended Universe ties. However, that wasn’t always the case, as concept art has surfaced revealing that Arthur’s Justice League teammates were originally supposed to have a major role in Aquaman.
Conceptual designer Ed Natividad posted some artwork on Artstation of Batman’s Knightcrawler, which had been introduced in Justice League, battling some Atleantean vehicles in the middle of a city street. The artwork was accompanied by the below caption:
In the early versions of the Aquaman 2018 script, Ocean Master commands the 3 Kingdoms to join him in the invasion of the surface world. He is met with resistance from the JL.
The final version of Aquaman saw Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry vanquish Patrick Wilson’s Ocean Master and his forces with help from numerous Atlantean allies, but now we know there’s a version of the story where the Justice League would have assisted their water-breathing compatriot. This calls to mind DC Comics’ Throne of Atlantis storyline, which saw Ocean Master, a.k.a. Orm, attacking the surface world early on during the New 52 era. However, aside from Batman, it’s unclear if the rest of the DCEU’s Justice League would have appeared in Aquaman, or only a few other members.
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Interestingly enough, this now makes two times where a Batman appearance in an Aquaman movie was scrapped. Ben Affleck reprised Bruce Wayne during Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s reshoots, and it was also reported that Michael Keaton had filmed a scene playing his Bruce Wayne back when he was set to take over as the DCEU’s Batman. Affleck came in at a time when The Flash was intended to be released after The Lost Kingdom, thus making Keaton’s inclusion confusing, though ultimately The Flash ended up hitting theaters first. As things stand now, neither Affleck nor Keaton are expected to appear in Aquaman 2.
Although it earned mixed critical reception, Aquaman made over $1.1 billion worldwide and remains the highest-grossing DC movie of all time. Five years later, Jason Momoa’s character is back in the spotlight for The Lost Kingdom, and like its predecessor, it will be a “very standalone film,” per director James Wan. In addition to this being the final movie in the DCEU continuity, Aquaman 2 also looks like it may be Momoa’s final outing as Arthur Curry, as he’s reportedly in talks to play Lobo in the new DC Universe. In fact, as some bad news for SnyderVerse fans, none of the Justice League actors are expected to reprise their roles in the shared continuity being spearheaded by DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Make sure you’re refreshed on what happened during Aquaman by streaming it with a Max subscription ahead of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s release on December 20. It will be one of the final entries on the 2023 movies calendar, and among the upcoming DC movies lined up in the years to follow include Superman: Legacy (which already has a stacked cast) and The Brave and the Bold.